SBB pull the connector to your entertainment portal

Until recently, you could watch films for free in the long -distance trains of SBB via cell phone or laptop and read digital magazines. This is the end: too few have used the offer.

Read newspaper, stream a television series or be informed about current delays during a long trip? Something that all train passengers have done before. In the merging of these activities on a single page, SBB recognized a customer need and created a digital portal on their long -distance trains around five years ago, which was accessible via cell phone or laptop. Now it has been parked – too few have used the offer.

« The SBB wanted to create a revolutionary, digital experience on board their high-speed trains, » writes the company Gomedia, which designed and implemented the SBB entertainment portal. Anyone who had been connected with their own end device with the wireless network in the express trains, such as on the Gotthard route, has so far been forwarded directly to the SBB portal.

On this, users were able to watch films free of charge, read magazines and magazines and play games. In addition, the portal offered an overview of the trip, at the current speed, menus of the bristle restaurant and helpful tips. According to Gomedia, the portal of three quarters of all users was rated as « excellent » or « very good ».

Only: Not a lot of customers used it. If you are now trying to connect to the portal, you will receive the information that “SBB onboard” has been switched off due to low user numbers. Many would never have used the portal anyway, writes an SBB spokeswoman: « The number of users was decreasing at a low level. »

ICE portal popular

The SBB jumped on the on-board entertainment train compared comparatively late. Deutsche Bahn, for example, operates its ICE portal, which is available on high-speed trains via Wi-Fi since 2015. The offer is very popular with travelers, a spokeswoman for DB writes on request: « The number of users of the ICE portal is increasing steadily ».

One reason why the portal in Germany works well is in the availability of mobile Internet according to Deutsche Bahn: « Data flat rates have not yet prevailed in the market in Germany as in other countries. » So users needed the Wi-Fi and would also benefit from the free offers.

According to statistics, the number of internet users with unlimited data volume is in the single -digit percentage range. In Switzerland, on the other hand, far more than half have a flat rate – in 2019 it was 73 percent. This enables unlimited streaming of films outside of the house. At the end of that year, SBB implemented free internet on the trains for the first time, at the same time as “SBB onboard”. It was parked at the last timetable change. A spokeswoman justified: « We assume that most traveling content increasingly consumes on their own devices. »